Mumbai: The Defence Ministry on Saturday ordered a probe into the fatal mishap on advanced warship INS Kolkata at the Mazagaon Docks in Mumbai.
Gas leakage in an under-construction warship in the Mazagaon Docks, claimed the life of a Commander and hospitalisation of two dockyard employees. In the 11th incident in seven months stalking naval assets, Commander Kuntal Wadhwa, 42, lost his life after he inhaled carbon dioxide that was leaking from a malfunctioning unit just a little after noon while undergoing trials in the Mazagon Dockyard Limited (MDL), officials said.
Two employees of the defence ministry shipyard also were affected by the gas leakage and were taken to hospital, in the second mishap to involve the navy in nine days. An MDL official said they have been discharged.
The Kolkata Class 'Yard-701' warship is yet to be commissioned and was slated to be inducted into operational service soon. The Navy and the shipyard have set up separate boards of inquiry into the incident. "Navy officer Kuntal Wadhva, 42, was declared dead before admission in St George Hospital at 1317 hours. He was a resident of Colaba and his relatives are coming from Thane," Additional CP Krishna Prakash said.
The 6,800-tonne displacement warship ‘Yard-701’ is to be named INS Kolkata. Officials said there would be no delay in its scheduled commissioning on March 27 in spite of the accident. "Yard-701, being built by Mazagaon Docks Limited, while undergoing machinery trials in Mumbai Port Trust had a malfunction in its carbon dioxide unit, leading to gas leakage," an MDL spokesperson said. Prakash said that at about 1245 hours during fire fighting testing, the CO2 bottle neck opened accidentally, releasing the gas. Last week, INS Sindhuratna had met with a fire accident in which two officers lost their lives leading to the resignation of former Navy Chief Admiral DK Joshi.
The mishap took place just nine days after fire and smoke incident on INS Sindhuratna off the Mumbai coast, in which two officers lost their lives and seven sailors were taken ill. Against the backdrop of the series of such mishaps, Finance Minister P Chidambaram yesterday suggested that the Defence Ministry was not spending funds allocated to it "wisely" enough and that it should learn lessons from these incidents.
The biggest mishap occurred when the INS Sindhurakshak sank inside the Mumbai harbour killing all 18 personnel on board on August 14. Earlier last month, INS Airavat, an amphibious warfare vessel, ran aground after which the commanding officer was stripped of his command duties. After the sinking of the INS Sindhurakshak, one of the mishaps involved INS Betwa which was damaged after probably hitting some underwater object.
India's leading minesweeper, the INS Konkan that was undergoing repairs in Vizag, also caught fire and suffered major damage to its interiors. The Pondicherry-class minesweeper was getting a refit at a dry dock when the incident occurred. After the Sindhuratna incident on February 26, Navy Chief Admiral D K Joshi resigned taking "moral responsibility" over the spate of mishaps involving naval warships.
Two employees of the defence ministry shipyard were also injured and were taken to hospital. A Mazagon Dock Ltd (MDL) official said that they were later discharged.
The Navy said that a board of inquiry has been ordered to probe the causes of the accident. There were also certain reports that claimed that the naval officer was not wearing a gas mask which may have saved his life.
